


Too Close for Comfort

by bayoublackjack



Series: Love in London [14]
Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Human Doctor (Doctor Who), POV Martha Jones, Sharing a Bed, Unresolved Romantic Tension, Unresolved Sexual Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-05
Updated: 2014-09-05
Packaged: 2018-02-16 05:33:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,419
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2257707
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bayoublackjack/pseuds/bayoublackjack
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Martha can't seem to escape Dr. John Smith and things get even more complicated when there's trouble with her hotel reservation.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Too Close for Comfort

Martha was tired from travelling the distance from London to Las Vegas.  Right then she wanted nothing more than to check into her hotel, have a long soak and a longer nap.  Unfortunately, there was a problem at the reception with her hotel reservation.

“What do you mean you don’t have my reservation?” Martha demanded irritably.

“I’m sorry.”  The woman behind the desk shook her head as she checked her computer once more.  “There must have been a mistake with the booking.”

Martha scoffed softly.  “Are you telling me that I just flew all the way from London to Las Vegas and I don’t even have a place to sleep?”

“You could always sleep with me,” a voice said in an unmistakably familiar Scottish brogue from over her shoulder.  “Literally not biblically,” John continued when she turned to face him.  “Though I’m always up for the latter.”

Martha closed her eyes and exhaled sharply.  “I’m not in the mood for this.”

“Okay, but I do have an idea,” John began as he stepped around Martha and approached the desk.  “Why don’t we let our friend…”  He paused to check the receptionist’s name tag.  “Linda.  Nice name.  Why don’t we let Linda here do her job and figured out what went wrong with your reservation.  You’ll give her your information.  I’ll give her mine.  She can ring one of us when it’s all sorted and until then you can come with me.”

“With you?” Martha asked with a frown.

“Yes.”  John nodded.  He scribbled his details on a piece of paper for Linda.  “I’m already checked in.  You can come up to my suite and have a nap or bath or whatever it is you need to relax.”

Martha exhaled sharply.  Once again the universe seemed to be pushing John and her together in her time of need.  And frankly she was getting tired of the universe’s shenanigans.  She could have just as easily left and looked for another hotel, but she was tired and hungry and not in the mood for lugging her bag up and down the Strip in search of accommodations.   “Just until this all sorted.”

“There you go!”  John beamed and stepped aside and offered the pen to her.  “Beauty and brains this one.”  Martha rolled her eyes as she jotted down her contact information.

Linda glanced back and forth between the two of them then asked, “Are you two a couple?”

“Never seen her before in my life,” John said.  “I figured what better place to take a gamble than Las Vegas.”

Martha slid Linda the pen and paper.  “We’re friends,” she told her.

“Friends now are we?” John replied.  “Looks like my luck is changing already.”

Martha grabbed her suitcase and headed for the elevators.  “I wouldn’t bet on it.”

“I can carry that for you.”

“I have it,” Martha insisted.

“Why are you so resistant to my help?” John asked seriously.

“Because I don’t need it.”

“Sometimes you do.”

Martha exhaled sharply.  “Sometimes.  But I’m perfectly capable of carrying own my bag.  It has blooming wheels for goodness sake’s.”  The doors to the lift opened and Martha stepped inside first.  John followed and an elderly couple in matching shirts entered as well.

John hit the button for his floor then turned to Martha.  “Are you hungry?”

Martha hesitated before answering.  “A bit, but mostly I just want to shower and get some sleep.”

“You go get settled in and freshen up.  I’ll pop down for some food,” John told her.

“You don’t have to do that.”

John exhaled sharply.  “Can you let me take care of you for once without fighting me?”

“Sound familiar?” the old man in the lift said to his wife.

The lady laughed and waved her hand dismissively.  “Are you two married too?”

Martha began to respond, but John cut her off.  “Engaged,” he answered.  “She wants a big wedding back home with a fancy white dress, but I brought her here to convince her to just marry me now with one of those Elvis impersonators.”

“It’s the marriage that counts, honey.  Not the wedding,” the woman told Martha.

“We got married in a tiny little courthouse in Mississippi,” the man added.  “Saddest thing ever.”  He smiled.  “I told her after fifty years of putting up with me she deserved something better.  So I brought her here to renew our vows.”

“Silly old thing,” the woman nudged him.  “I already have the best.”

Martha smiled sadly.  She wanted what they had.  “Congratulations.”

“Aye.”  John nodded.  “I only hope that she’ll be that happy fifty years from now,” he said looking at Martha.

“I have a good feeling about the two of you,” the woman replied.  “I know true love when I see it.”

When the doors opened, Martha hurried out.  Their words had been so kind, but they left her with a bitter taste in her mouth.  She was in love, but not with John.  Tom.  Tom was the only one that mattered.  Tom would be the one making her happy fifty years from now.

Tom.  Not John.  Tom.

“Martha.”

Martha snapped out of her head and stared ahead at John.  The room was dark except for the lamps on the night tables and the soft glow from the telly.  John had stripped down to his pyjama bottoms.  She closed her eyes and tried to recall how she got there.  Lift.  Suite.  Shower.  Food.  Bed.  She had gone through the motions without giving much thought to what she was doing.

“Are you okay to share?” John asked for what Martha sensed was the second time.

Linda.  Double booking.  Cancelled reservation.  John telling her to stay and sort it in the morning.

Martha opened her eyes.  “It’s fine.”  John nodded and slipped between the sheets.  She watched him silently.  Left side.  Tom always slept on the left side as well.  She pulled back the covers then paused.  “I’ll be right back.”

She disappeared into the bathroom to remove her bra.  She couldn’t sleep in it, but for whatever reason she didn’t want to take it off in front of him.  She folded it as small as she could and tucked it under her pillow when she returned to the bed.

John had turned his lamp and the television off.  “Do you need the light?”

“No.”  Martha sat on the edge of the bed and hit the switch on her side.  It wasn’t complete darkness.  The neon lights from the Strip filtered through the sheer drapery into the room, but it was dark enough that Martha didn’t have to look at him.  She could feel his presence, but she didn’t have to acknowledge his identity.  In the dark he could be anyone.  Tom even.

Martha eased between the sheets and settled into a position on her side, keeping her back to John. 

“Don’t worry,” John said.  “I won't purposefully move onto your side of the bed or try to cop a feel or anything,” he promised.

“You can move to my side in the middle of the night,” Martha replied after a few minutes of silence.  She missed having someone sleeping close to her and John was as good of a substitute as any.  “As long as you promise to keep your trousers on.”

“I won't take my trousers off," John said, taking the opportunity to move closer to her.

Martha sighed softly.  It took everything in her not to move to meet John in the middle of the bed.  “It’s funny, but I think the thing I miss the most about Tom being away is having someone sleeping next to me,” she said quietly.

“It's not weird at all,” John said softly.

“Some nights…I just wish I had someone to hold me,” Martha confessed.  “Nothing more.  I just want to feel someone close, you know?  That way maybe I can pretend it's Tom.”

“I can be that someone,” John told her.  “If you want.”  Martha hesitated.  She was already pushing it by even sharing a bed with John, but allowing him to hold her?  That was dangerous territory.  Nevertheless, she nodded wordlessly and John shifted closer to her and wrapping one arm around her waist.  He rested is chin on her shoulder and sighed close to her ear.  “Is this alright?  Can you sleep like this?” he asked.

Martha eased back into his embrace.  She closed her eyes and draped her arms over his.  “It’s perfect,” she replied softly.

That night she slept better than she had in ages.


End file.
